::FAMILY:: Christmas Dinner

There's nothing more I treasure than family time, so once in a while we have the family over for a meal at our place. Christmas dinner this time round was a 5 (+2)-courser mix of east and west ;p

Readily available from our freezer - junk food to hold off hunger pangs

Extra mashed potato from shepherd's pie

Spicy tuna wontan

Kong ba bao in Korean sauce

The Sherpherd's Pie

Salted egg yolk French beans

 

Scallops with shitake and spinach in cream sauce

 

I must say my dad was pretty impressed with the spread he asked where I picked up my culinary skills from?! It's not from motherhood, dad, it's a natural talent not displayed when I was staying with you and the kitchen belonged to mummy ;p

My Dad

Growing up, dad had always been a strict and stern figure at home. He was the sole breadwinner for our family of 5. We didn't have many 'luxurious' toys then. My first Barbie doll was a Christmas gift from a friend's dad when I was about 9 or 10 years old. Our first experience with the Sony machine (or what did you call those game boxes that you stuffed cartridges in and play pacman?) was when my Uncle bought a set and put it at our house for us to play during the holidays.

 

Dad was strict when it comes to how we spent our pocket money. I remember hiding my thick stash of artiste and cartoon cards and a pack of Bobdog mini poker card set from him; and my sis, her tamagochi. But dad always made sure we had enough pocket monies and was always willing to give that extra blue crisp note whenever (ok, not too often) when we needed to go out during the weekends of school holidays. And he always made sure we get new clothes, shoes and bags for CNY - *edit* actually I think mum makes sure he paid for those because she strongly believes in having new things to wear during the New Year, down to the underwear.

 

We seldom eat out during dinners. And Dad didn't do restaurants.

 

It didn't hit upon me then, but it must have been hard and stressful for him to provide for all of us.

 

He lets Mom do all the disciplinary at home and rarely interferes in this aspect. But, we were all more 'afraid' of him somehow.

 

Dad got his first car when I was 16.

But he didn't drive around much. Mainly because he is unfamiliar with roads (I think I got this genes and so my heavy reliance on the GPS!), but I think also because he is lazy. ^_^ The number of destinations he goes to can be counted with my fingers. They are mainly our schools, my mum's markets and his office. My workplace was added much later on when I started going to work at 7ams and could hitch a ride from him since it was on the way to his office (He actually bothered to go and find out that it was enroute). DO NOT remind me of those days. Oh! But those days made me see Dad in a different light. I began to sense his fatherly love.

 

Pardon me, but we are not the kind of chummy family who expressively show our love for one another.  

 

Oh! N&I got him a GPS later on, but found him and mum using it to play games at home. -_-"

 

As far as I could remember, dad only became a little more cheerful and jovial with us in the recent 10-15 years. My memory's fuzzy because I always remembered him as a stern and strict fatherly figure. He also started to eat out more often and began to hit the restaurants once in a while. Sometimes, he will go to eatery places recommended by Channel 8 with my mum, provided they are within reasonable distance in his context. But he will choose to take a public transport there because 'parking very leychey' and 'it's more relaxing to sit in a bus or a mrt'.

 

But he is still not adventurous enough to venture to faraway places that we would love to bring him to, even when we offer to chauffeur him -_-" My dad is a creature of familiarity. He opts to go to places he is familiar with ie nearby. On the rare one occasion N&I and my sisters and my mom managed to get his ass to Geylang for our favourite crab, he got hooked and is now a return customer. We have not achieved success with any other of our frequent haunts till now. He sometimes still nag at us to save $ ah.. don't always go res-tor-rents..:p He doesn't expect us to splurge on his special days too.

 

And then when we got married, Dad surprised me with his generosity by giving us a cheque. I was dumbfounded by his gesture. Mum surprised me too by bringing out a box of jewellery that she secretly bought mannnny years ago just to await each of us for our big day - but mum was never one to be stingy about money, so though I was touched, I wasn't equally touched. ;p  

 

And then D came along.

And I saw a completely different side of my dad altogether.

He had a new destination readily added to his car's list of limited destinations - my house. Dad sent me breakfast cum lunch almost every day while I was on maternity leave. He said he was afraid I would be depressed and I think that played a great part in keeping the depression at bay. On hindsight, I really think the post-natal blues might have set in if it hadn't been for their constant presence and support because I did get rid of our part time helper during my confinement.

 

He will even specially come down to fetch D & I whenever we are due for a staycation at his place, even though I tell him I am ok to catch a cab.

 

Mom secretly revealed that he did not carry us nor take much care of us (in terms of nappies/milk/bathes) when we were tiny little beings. But somehow things changed when he became a granddad. He became very hands on with D. I found it hard to believe it was his first time handling a baby. So D is very attached to my dad.

 

He has now also added another new destination to his list of limited destinations - D's IFC.

 

He sent me an SMS in the wee hours this morning when he saw that it was raining, followed by a phone call later on. Somehow he doesn't know how to spell his SIL name :D

That's how he shows his love, my fatherly figure - someone whom I grew up fearing and keeping many secrets from. Whom I now grow to respect and admire much more and willingly report my whereabouts to :D (See SMS dd 13 May below)

 

Things still haven't gotten chummy in the household but I really love my Papa!

He is contemplating retirement just so he could be there for D whenever N&I decide to go on an escapade, or whenever N is not in town so he could ferry D&I around.

 

Thank you, pa.

I will bring my D up in the same similar ways as you did us.

Similar, because if MY son wanna bring me out the next time I will sure tag along! :D

Beyond the Cuteness

is the mess we have managed to create for ourselves in our 2 + 1 weekend furkid family. Cant imagine what happens when we expand.

The in-laws were over on Sunday to pack/rack up the storeroom. On the same night, I also found our sauces packed nicely with everything in clear view, a washed steamer (steamer need to wash meh? ;p), and a nicely packed cupboard in the guest room. N says they probably didnt know the daughter-in-law was equally messy like the son. heh.

So the chinese saying that goes "Chou xi fu zhong yao jian jia gong jia po" really rings true!

On a different but almost similar note, mama has also been really sweet ever since I moved out. Buying crunchy & sweet apples for us to munch on after knowing our sad story with Simei NTUC fruits, buying the stainless steel powder and coming over to show me how to clean the WMC pots and pans I tasked her to help buy before I flew off for work (because I wanted her to see if they are good pots & pans but the offer time did allow us to shop together before I fly) and which she then said is a gift for us, buying extra fish from the market and intended to give me some of her loot (until I told her I dont like to steam my own fish because handling the fish from its raw state to the cooked state didnt gel very well with the stomach juices), coordinating Murphy's dinner and evening walks amongst us siblings to make sure someone is there to feed and walk the baby at 7pm, no later.

And today, I told her we have dinner plans for some friends to come over for beehoon and curry chicken. I wanted to get her chilli paste to bluff through the big cookout. But mama offered to also buy the chicken and potatoes and coconut because she claims she can buy the nicer potatoes, fresher chicken and afraid I might get the wrong kind of coconut milk. She also offered to lend me her big pot to cook enough curry for 10 pax because we do not have sucha huge pot at home. N is now asking that I might as well just get her to cook the curry and we collect the pot of curry on Sat. :s

I guess in our parents' eye, we dont really grow up aye?!

It's good to still be babied around once in a while ;)

I know Murphy loves me a lot because......

after many rounds of these expressionless, "get away from me" moments that I subject him to almost daily.... 

And after making him look sad

LIKE THIS

because I ignored his excited pitter-pattering feet alongside my strides while biting on to the pumpkin that he wanted to play fetch with, and the occasional "accidental" brushes against my calves (which occur too many times for me to believe that they were accidental)...

And so he continued to look like that until I finally 'noticed' him...

(PS: last 2 photos taken with iPhone 4GS!)

But he still welcomes me home every day with that special bark sound (that only my youngest sister and I are privileged to get) and that waggerly tail, gives me a once over lick in every inch of my exposed skin and snuggles sooooo close as if he wants to be a part of my body! A dog's love is so unconditional.. <3 

I have had him for 3 year now, and had him with N. :p But N has never experienced this much cuteness that only people close to him get to see. Now that we are embarking on to a new journey, and to a whole new level of parenthood together, I believe N will be able to witness all these and be mesmerised pretty soon :)

Question of the day: So what do you do if newlyweds just want to have dogkids? Get dogs to jump on the bed?! :p

2010 in pictures

Alot had happened during the year - Made new friends, lost some too. Mahjong proper. Cooked and baked alot. Travelled a lot. Laughed alot. Ate alot. Nothing could be better than having these pictures to explain the exciting journey in 2010 in summary.

BABIES 

officially became an Aunty twice this year and had a lot of parenting (well kind of) experience. Makes me wana have one myself if God is kind enough to bestow us with The Gift :)

Little-est addition to the maternal family turned 1 month on 1.1.2011!

The Strawberry Temptations I couldnt resist on the 3rd day of her birth.. haha! Strawberry Feets! :)

Became a closer Mummy to my own furkid by knocking off on time and going home earlier more often :)

BESTIES came back for a short visit!! We made merry and acted silly at a random rooftop in the heart of town and hang out like the good ole days!

(whew! N could still hoist me up in 2010!!!)

Got LUCKY and won a S$20 shopping voucher with this photograph on Mari's last day in Singapore!

TRAVELS

Down Under (for work and play!)

Made friends with a cute furball Down Under!

Stayed in Cherrie's appartment in Surrey Hills

Ate the MOST FANTASTIC pork ribs I have ever eaten!

Vietnam

Did an all-girls trip with Dia, YP and MY. Saw The Exotic French Coloniel architecture I was lemming about :)

Crawled through the Cuchi tunnels! (not through this pot hole though. did it the tourist way!)

Korea

Went on a holiday with my dear :)

Got my first Prada (gift)! :)

Manado

Did our annual dive trip for 2010 spontaeneously! We just met 2 other friends who flew in from Jakarta over at the dive resort and dived the days away! (Not on a 'school' trip!)

Caught OUR first beautiful sunrise one of the mornings

Went forest tracking and saw the SMALLEST monkey in the W.W.W!!!!

Played with a PUFFERFISH!!!

Created another lovely memory :)

PAKTOR

Developed a queer hobby which became our dating focus...

It is queer, like this.

WUIS came home for a bit! And we caught up over the hippest drink in town!

WEDDING PREPS

Settled on a date and booked our banquet!

Received the letter from developer!!

Bought our wedding bands on Christmas day!

My first YATCH trip on 10.10.10 for Shum's ROM!!

All dressed to fit the Tiffany theme!

My first PULAU UBIN trip spent riding on a mountain bike on the dirt trails!

The FIRST round of HOUSE WARMING started amongst the cavers! We spent the past 2 years attending weddings, this will be the start of the next 2 years doing home visits... and thereafter, should be the pop showers! :) Life's great growing old together :)

And the year ended off with a homey countdown to prepare for KYSM's WEDDING on 1.1.2011!!!

Congrats KYSM! They look a fab couple! And look at that gorgeous FUSHIA dress!

Made 50 CUPS of STRAWBERRY MARSHMELLOW CUPPA on 31.12.2010 till 1.1.2011

They were well received during the baby shower!! :) People came to tell me it was NICE. :) Twas well worth sacrificing a countdown and my beauty zzzz for :)

Spending time with FAMILY...

...and DEAR (although he made me angry that day...we made up the very next day) ;p

and of course, Murphy!!! He is in every bit of my life!! :) And he already has a dinner appointment next Thursday! O_O" My boy's popular like that..he gets dinner dates and I become chauffeur! hrmph!

And to summarise 2010 in words, I got BANGED!

and HORNY!!!

alright, JUST KIDDING!!!

Life's short! Laugh more! Kill that angst! :)

2010 had been FAB overall! 2011's gonna be sooooooo muuuuuuch better!!!

HOME and WEDDING! :)